


something like home

by buttered_onions



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (surprise), Blankets, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, featuring also Keith's Space Wolf, spoilers for season six, the most self-indulgent ficlet featuring:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 06:39:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14971244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttered_onions/pseuds/buttered_onions
Summary: Shiro wakes up, safe.





	something like home

**Author's Note:**

> I have sO many feelings after season six, so when in doubt I went for the most self-indulgent thing I could think of. What a fantastic season. 
> 
> I firmly believe Keith would have named his space-wolf-pup after his Dad. When we get a real name for his Dad, I'll pop in to add it, but in the meantime I took a creative liberty here.
> 
> Thank you so much to [gitwrecked](http://gitwrecked.tumblr.com) and [paladinpuppypile](http://paladinpuppypile.tumblr.com) for the cheerleading and the editing! Please enjoy this short little piece.

After a while, the first thing Shiro is aware of is warmth.

He blinks awake, shaking off the haze of sleep - real sleep, wonderful and languid. It’s surprisingly hard to get past. His limbs are heavy, dragged down and leaden. Even his eyelids don’t want to move, captive against gravity Shiro’s almost forgotten how to fight against.

Slowly sensations trickle in to his awareness: the quiet hiss of a distant airlock, of footsteps and a voice calling out in syllables Shiro’s too tired to string together. A soft whuffle by his ear. The smell of recycled air, cool and clean where it tickles against his nose. The disgusting dryness of his mouth, his tongue thick and stale behind his teeth. The softness of a mattress beneath him, the give of the cushions beneath his legs where he’s stretched out along it. A thin mattress. An emergency one. Shiro peels his eyes open with an effort.

Yes: he was right. It’s one of the emergency mattresses usually tucked away in storage on the Lions, off the main cockpit in an alcove. Shiro’d used one for Keith after a disastrous mission some - some time ago. The blanket draped over and snuggled carefully around him is from that same storage, and though it’s definitely seen better days, its soft, warm weight is a comfort Shiro’d almost forgotten how to need. The blanket is tucked around him, cocooning but not too tight. With a sigh, Shiro finally shifts, turning his head to the left and towards the source of the noise.

A pair of electric yellow eyes rimmed in bright blue meets his, blinking once. Shiro startles violently beneath the blanket, yelping with surprise. How had - shouldn’t he have -

For all its size, Keith’s giant space-wolf-dog doesn’t react to Shiro’s alarm. It tilts its head at him in what might be curiosity and then just disappears, teleporting out of the little alcove to who-knows-where. Shiro sucks in a shaky breath, willing his heart to calm down - and isn’t that new, too, new and blessedly, achingly familiar? The thump of his heart in his chest and his ears is fast but steady, alarmed but real. A comfort, too. Shiro closes his eyes again and breathes.

There’s something else. Tucked neatly back in the corners of who he is there’s an undercurrent Shiro’s not sure he’ll ever truly be able to ignore again. The Black Lion presses against his mind with a curious purr, though she retreats softly with a content hum when he sends her a bleary hello. Shiro lets her, unhurried; Shiro lies easy for a long moment, listening, listening, still.

When he opens his eyes the second time, Keith is crouched in front of him, arms tucked loosely on top of his bent knees. Even crouching he’s taller than Shiro remembers.

“Hey,” Keith says. His voice is pitched low. “Sorry if Liam scared you. How are you feeling?”

Keith’s smile is soft and somewhat contagious. Shiro musters up a smile too, though it takes him a few seconds before the muscles cooperate. There’s so much to get used to again. “’m fine. How long - ?”

“Not too long,” Keith answers lightly, and that could stand for a million things but Shiro’s too tired to chase it. “A couple vargas, give or take.”

Keith’s space-wolf — Liam? — butts his head around Keith’s knee, investigating. Keith huffs out a laugh, resting one gloved hand atop the wolf’s furry blue head. Shiro just cannot believe how much Keith has grown. It isn’t just the scar on Keith’s face, now, but the length to his hair, the new but familiar shape of his chin, and the sincerity in his voice.

God, Shiro’s missed him.

“Your head bothering you?” Keith asks, frowning. “I can ask Black to turn the lights down - ”

“No,” Shiro says, and means it. There’s nothing in his head except his Lion. It’s just everything else that aches. Shiro swallows. _No more lies._ “Just - other things. Some aches. ‘m alright.”

Keith is quiet for a moment, processing. Shiro’s afraid Keith is going to push, part of him hoping Keith will and the other really hoping Keith won’t. He didn’t lie: nearly everything aches. His body is heavy in a way that’s almost sickening, certainly exhausting where gravity drains what little energy he has straight out of him, through the mattress, down to the floor and gone. If Keith wasn’t sitting right at the edge of Shiro’s little world, Shiro’d probably just go right back to sleep. He’s too tired to come up with more than the truth.

“We’re making camp,” Keith offers, at last. The soft smile’s back on his face. “We were hoping to be able to reach the T’laxian system, but Coran and Allura both say we wouldn’t make it there for another quintant at the least. We’ve set down on a moon for the night.”

Moon or planet, the air must be breathable: the dim light of twilight filters in from the open hatch, and Keith isn’t wearing his helmet. “What time is it?”

“Time to rest more, probably,” Keith says. Liam pads softly past Keith’s knee and noses curiously at the blanket tucked around Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro smiles at him, too. “If you’re feeling up to it, the rest of us are gathering things outside. Hunk’s cobbling something together for dinner. If you want to go back to sleep, though, I can bring you some when it’s ready.”

It’s tempting, but the choice is ridiculously easy to make.

“I’m not sure I’m hungry, but outside would be nice,” Shiro says, wistfully. The whiff of fresh air blowing in from the open hatch is far too appealing to pass up, alien moon or no.

“Okay,” Keith says, shifting to help. Shiro pushes back the blanket, surprised at how much his arm shakes from just that simple movement. Keith tugs the blanket the rest of the way free; Liam scuttles right under it and pops out the other side, delighted. He’s almost bigger than the blanket is. “Everyone would like that. Coran wants to talk to you, maybe after you’ve eaten.”

Shiro accepts Keith’s help up into a seated position, and if he leans on Keith for a second too long to catch his breath, Keith doesn’t comment. Shiro’s shoulder twinges at him; it aches, yes, but no more than the rest of him. “I’m not going back in the pod, Keith.”

“Mm,” Keith says, noncommittal. “We’ll talk after dinner. Ready to go see the others?”

“Yes,” Shiro swears. Liam loops around Shiro’s ankles and back, curious and attentive. Keith smiles at his wolf, and then at Shiro. There’s so much ground left to cover, but Shiro isn’t worried. He’s tired; not alarmed. Whatever still needs to be said, whatever still needs to be done, will all happen in its own time. For now it’s enough just to be in the moment. For them, for where they’re at and for where they’ve been and for where they’re headed next, this is more than enough.

Shiro takes Keith’s hand and lets Keith help him up.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you liked what you read, please consider leaving me a comment. You can also follow me on [tumblr](http://butteredonions.tumblr.com), where I'm reblogging a lot of season six spoilers and doing a lot of yelling. Come yell :)
> 
> Currently this lil work is just Shiro and Keith; if I can figure out what piece to write next, I'll add it in here. Have a great week!


End file.
